Dreams — Review

Synopsis:
Explore and play in an ever-expanding Dreamiverse bursting with games, music, art and everything in between and beyond.

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Reviewed on: PS4 Pro

Cast: Sophie Okonedo, Ray Panthaki, Gemma Whelan, Alexis Rodney, Daphne Alexander, Rachel John, Jonathan Forbes, Ako Mitchell, Lachele Carl, Nathan Osgood, Laila Pyne, Kit Connor, Rosie Boore

Developer: Media Molecule
Creative Director: Mark Healey
Narrative Artist: Emei Olivia Burell
Technical Director: David Smith
Art Director: Kareem Ettouney

When I was in high school and discovered a bunch of free video-editing tools (and tutorials) online, I paired those with my phone and a webcam and started making movies. It felt liberating; until then I assumed you needed expensive gear and software to do anything close. Combine that with the start of YouTube and suddenly I was creating and sharing with like-minded people in a way that hadn’t been possible before. Dreams from Media Molecule takes me right back to that feeling—only it’s all in one package. It gives you the freedom to create in ways you might not have thought possible and share those ideas for others to play online. It’s a literal game-changer.

Much like YouTube, Dreams will attract three kinds of people: those who want to create, those who want to play, and those who want to do a bit of both. Thanks to Early Access, the hardcore community of Dreamers is already here and thriving.

Mass collaborations are already happening: sculptors, animators, voice actors, composers and more combine their skills with Dreams’ tools to build full-fledged original games. It’s hard not to be in awe when you finish an hour-long adventure and see 20+ names in the credits.

Then there are players acting as free QA testers, leaving detailed bug reports to help creators. And of course, there are the faithful recreations—like P.T.—plus a flood of fan remakes of ’90s favourites.

*‘Art’s Dream’ — captured by the author*

For Players

The first thing you should play is Art’s Dream, created entirely by Media Molecule inside Dreams. It shows what’s possible and will inspire would-be creators to master the toolset.

Art’s Dream is more than a tech demo, though. It’s a heartfelt, endearing story about a man trying to pull his life together amid dark thoughts. The 2–3 hour journey flits between genres—from point-and-click to twin-stick shooter. The animation and character work are especially impressive (particularly if you sampled stiffer creations during Early Access). You’d almost forget it doubles as a pseudo-tutorial if not for the Imp (your on-screen cursor) popping up in certain segments. It’s beautifully put-together and a stunning showcase of what’s possible for Dreamers.

*‘Pig Detective 2’ — captured by the author*

Sticking with the YouTube analogy, Dream Surfing is the equivalent of letting your recommendations autoplay. You’ll hit amazing experiences—and some less-than-stellar ones. Thankfully, curation has come a long way since Early Access. The Netflix-like discover page now allows Media Molecule to feature proven hits front and centre, and search is solid.

There’s also a monthly community project: a theme (the latest was “food”) that creators riff on with games, art and music. It’s a constant idea-spark for makers and a steady drip of focused content for players.

Even at launch, there are plenty of great games to fit most tastes. Skim the nominees for the 2019 IMPY Awards (Media Molecule’s first awards for creators) to find standouts like Pig Detective 2: Adventures in Cowboy Town, Mimeo Prophecy, Do Robots Dream of Electric Imps? and more—spanning adventure to FPS.

An excellent decision from Media Molecule was launching indreams.me. In your browser you can browse creations and creators, then add picks to your Play Later queue. On your lunch break you can read descriptions, check likes, scan screenshots and queue a session for the evening—instead of doom-scrolling on your couch.

Some players are becoming go-to curators. If you find someone whose playlists align with your taste, follow them (and their collections) to piggyback on their sifting.

We’re curating, too—follow the Explosion Network collection here.

Puppet tutorial — captured by the author — *Puppet Tutorial — captured by the author*

For Creators

The creation tools can look intimidating. If you jump in and start clicking around, you’ll likely get lost. Don’t do that.

Dreams includes excellent tutorials across the suite. Each track starts with beginner-friendly lessons and ramps up. Remix a level to tweak pre-built assets; sculpt your first character; paint a village with a river and sky; or learn to animate for in-game scenes or standalone films.

The music creation tools are just as deep. What keeps everything approachable—even for someone like me who struggled to build levels in LittleBigPlanet—is the quality of the tutorials and the growing encyclopedia of community guides (plus Dreamers who want to help).

Remixing is the easiest way to ship your first playable stage. If a creator marks their level as remixable, you can dive in, see how it’s wired, and make tweaks—or complete overhauls—to make it your own. When I remixed my first level as part of the tutorials—completely rebuilding the end-goal for a simple collect-athon—I was thrilled playing it back. That sense of achievement makes the time you spend learning the tools absolutely worth it.

You can build nearly anything right now, but there are two big things I hope arrive later (or benefit from PS5 hardware): PS VR support (which is in the works) and online co-op/multiplayer. Leaderboards are nice, but imagine what people could do with shared worlds. Maybe that’s me dreaming too big—but with Dreams, the line of what’s possible is hard to see.

The biggest hurdle is input: a keyboard and mouse would be ideal, but you’re working with a DualShock 4 or PS Move controllers. Precision is possible—it just takes practice.

Verdict

Dreams is undoubtedly one of PlayStation 4’s greatest games. While surfing the Dreamiverse I’ve played adventures that made me laugh, tributes to loved ones, a child’s dream game created by a parent; I’ve even listened to full albums made solely in Dreams. After each game, I scan the comments and see ideas shared, bugs flagged, and simple, joyful praise. The way this community is already lifting each other up as they learn, create and play together is beautiful to see. The toolset is unreal, and the range of games, films, music and more you’ll experience… it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen—and it’s going to inspire the next generation of creators.